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A warm exchange of letters between FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter and Jacob Zuma, the President of the Republic of South Africa, has seen both reaffirm their commitment to the FIFA World Cup™ leaving a lasting social legacy.

In the letters, both addressed to “a dear Friend and Brother”, the respective leaders stressed the importance of maintaining the momentum established by a hugely successful tournament and subsequently continued by the first-ever FIFA World Cup Education Summit in Pretoria on 11 July.

Blatter, for his part, expressed a belief that the FIFA World Cup would “provide a trigger for long-term and sustained social, cultural and educational development”, while Zuma focused on their shared passion for the 1 Goal Education for All Campaign.

“As we know,” he wrote, “the success of this campaign will assist approximately 72 million children, almost half of whom are in Africa, who are not attending school. That would be a powerful legacy of the World Cup.”

WEDNESDAY 30 JULY 2O10

_SOUTH AFRICA'S UNLIKE STAR_

After all, impressive though Forlan and Co were, none could claim that their performances throughout South Africa 2010 were flawless. Paul the octopus, on the other hand, never put a foot, or tentacle, wrong during a month that witnessed his meteoric rise to superstardom - and ended with a transfer tug-of-war.

For anyone somehow unaware of what all the fuss was about, Paul’s celebrity status was earned by an unblemished run of eight successful predictions from the first round of group matches all the way through to the Final. The method by which Oberhausen Sea Life Centre’s most famous resident picked his winners was to eat a mussel from one of two containers, each adorned with the flags of the competing nations. So unerring did he prove that several news channels across Europe began to broadcast Paul’s predictions live, while the phrases ‘Paul the Octopus’ and ‘Pulpo’ - the Spanish word for octopus - generated huge internet traffic, taking their place Twitter’s top ten global trends.

THURSDAY 31ST JULYMEXES BANNED FOR THREE GAMES

AS Roma's French defender Philippe Mexes has been handed a
three-match ban afer blasting a match official while being sent off in yesterday's 2-1 defeat to Brescia.

Mexes had already been yellow carded for a tackle on Brescia forward Eder in the 14th minute, and was sent off for a second booking just after the hour mark.

On his way off the pitch the Frenchman started remonstrating with one of the touchline officials. Television pictures appeared to reveal that Mexes did not actually make contact with Eder the second time.

The match referee, Carmine Russo, was widely criticised after the match.